It's Quite Simple, Really
by ariese13
Summary: Okay, so Lily Evans, James Potter, and all their friends are starting their sixth year at There are parties, fights, pranks, death, and even a baby? Meet the students of Class of It's September 1st, 1976, and things just got (T for some swearing here and there, and adult content I )
1. 1: September 1976

**DISCLAIMER: J.K Rowling owns everything. Oh, and Cassandra Clare for ****_one _****little part that I use. Let's see if you can find it.**

**A/N: Hello, again! This is a story about Lily Evans, James Potter, and their friends told from the start of their sixth year to the end of their seventh year. It's in the POV of anyone, not just Lily or James. I wrote a story like this before, but it was my first fanfic so I didn't really know what I was doing.**

**I've read (and reading) a few fanfics and have gotten some ideas. I've improved my writing (hopefully) and I hope for this story to be very well. I hope to make the next chapters longer than this one, but since this is the first one, it's short.**

**Enjoy the story!**

**-Alexandra**

Being a teenager is supposed to be fun, right? There are wild parties where everyone gets drunk and sleeps with someone they've known since grade school but never talk to. There are those moments when someone in your year says something completely disrespectful to the teacher, gets detention, but is said to be a hero. Then there are those who have a big group of friends where they go see some frightening horror film on Friday night after exams. At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, part of that's true.

Yes, there are wild parties when everyone gets drunk and sleeps with someone they've know for years but never talk to.

Yes, there are those moments when someone in your year says something completely disrespectful to the teacher, gets detention, but is said to be a hero.

No, students at Hogwarts can't go to the cinema because they are tied to their school for most of the year.

But there are wild parties (many, actually) and those moments (a few here and there).

But that doesn't mean that being a teenager is fun. In fact, it means the complete opposite. For Lily Evans, being a teenager isn't fun at all. For James Potter, it's the best years of his life. Being sixteen years old can be a challenge, especially when you're a witch or wizard.

Yes, a witch or wizard.

Magic does exist, but it isn't the type of magic most Muggles think of. Muggles think of the cliché, "Pick a card! Any card!" Magic is a completely different type of element. Sure, there are vanishing spells and levitating spells, but there is even a spell that can murder people. That spell can lock a wizard or witch right up in Azkaban Prison.

Of course, Lily and James would never use that spell, nor their friends. Lily is the type of girl that would be found in the library reading a book. James would be found with his three best friends pranking someone.

James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew are the famous Marauders. Four sixteen-year-old boys that start up trouble wherever they go. Well, only if they're all together. If James is by himself, he's either playing with a nicked snitch, planning his next prank, or actually doing homework. Sirius is either looking for a fit girl to snog, or, like James, is planning his next prank. Remus is studying and/or reading and Peter is, well, probably stuffing his mouth down in the kitchens. But hey, food is amazing, right?

When Lily _isn't_ by herself, she's most likely with _her _friends: Marlene Hughes, Mary MacDonald, and Alice Prewett. She's friends with her other two roommates, Emmeline Vance and Dorcas Meadowes, but not as close. Besides, Emmeline and Dorcas are closer than any friendship at Hogwarts (besides the Marauders, of course).

Marlene Hughes is beyond perfect. Her head is filled with naturally curly hair that's the color of the sun. She's tall, slim, and very smart. She's kind, though, and tries to put everyone before herself. You would think she's a slag because of her looks, but she's 100% a virgin and Marlene plans to be one until marriage. Although she's friends with her roommates, she's fairly close with Dylan McKinnon. He's a fellow Gryffindor and they are like brother and sister. Well, that's what _Marlene_ thinks, anyway.

Mary MacDonald _is _a slag. No, she's not, but she _has _had her fair share of boyfriends. And she isn't a virgin. Mary only dates the most hottest boys from either Gryffindor or Ravencaw. No Hufflepuff and _definitely_ no Slytherin. Even though she dates all the time, she saves time for her friends. She does have a dirty mind, though, but she likes to call it a sexy imagination.

Alice Prewett is the common nice girl. She's small, thin, and a prefect, like Lily. Unlike the other girls, she's in a very serious relationship. Sure, Lily has a boyfriend, but she doesn't consider them "serious." Frank Longbottom has been Alice's boyfriend for two years. They are undoubtedly in love and with probably never fall _out_ of love. They are the annoying couple that are always holding hands and kissing each other between classes. Some people loathe them because they don't stop while others envy them _because_ they don't stop. In all, Alice and Frank will probably get married straight out of Hogwarts and have, like, ten kids or whatever.

September 1st, 1976. The first day back to Hogwarts.

You could say Lily Evans was excited. You could say she was ecstatic to return to the marvelous castle that is Hogwarts. Of course, she was. Well, kind of.

You see, a few months ago, something terrible happened. She lost her best friend. Her best friend was a Slytherin boy named Severus Snape. Lily and Severus had been friends since they were only nine years old. It's quite simple, really. He told her she was a witch, she didn't believe him, but obviously she was curious because she went back for answers.

It was a warm June afternoon right after one of their O.W.L exams. Lily was with her three girl friends, heading over to the large, shady oak by the Black Lake. Unfortunately, the spot was already occupied by the Marauders. Oh, and Severus was lurking around which gave James Potter and Sirius Black the perfect opportunity to have a little fun. In the end, it ended with Lily shouting at James that'd she rather go out with the giant squid and Severus yelling that he didn't need help from Mudbloods like Lily. That's obviously a friendship ruiner (is that even a word?).

You could say Lily Evans was excited. You could say she was ecstatic to return to the marvelous castle that is Hogwarts. Of course, she was. Well, kind of.

Returning would mean putting up with Severus Snape and Professor Slughorn confused on why they didn't want to be partners anymore in Potions. It would mean facing James Potter and him constantly asking her out. It would mean the stress of exams and being a prefect.

_But_ it would mean seeing her friends again. It would mean the enjoyment of _being_ a prefect. It would mean learning more complex spells and potions and plants. It would mean being inside the most magical place on Earth. It would mean seeing her boyfriend of five months, Jeff Thomas.

Even though Lily and Jeff have known each other since first year, they only started talking about a year ago. Soon enough, they started dating in April. Jeff asked Lily out and she accepted. It's quite simple, really. Jeff is a fellow Gryffindor and is sweet. Just sweet. He's not particularly special. He's a kind bloke who happened to like Lily and Lily liked him back. Well, kind of.

You see, Lily accepted to go on a date with him to Hogsmeade because simply, _he was a kind bloke who happened to like Lily_. They chatted, laughed, and had a great time. Walking back to the school, he pulled her aside and gently kissed her. She was sort of shocked, but responded. After that, they started dating. In the beginning, Severus wasn't too thrilled, and neither was James Potter.

But back to the first day back to Hogwarts.

Lily was just dropped off by her mother at King's Cross Station. She bid her farewells and promised her mother she'd return for Christmas and Easter. She also promised she'd write once a week. That habit would only last for one week. Lily pulled her trunks along the shinny floor of the train station, making her way to Platform 9 and 10. People gave her weird stares as she walked, eyeing her owl Grace and her cat Whiskers (yes, not a very clever name for a cat but Lily named him when she was eleven, mind you). Technically, a student is only supposed to have one pet, either an owl, cat, or toad. But Lily needed an owl for letters and a cat because, well, she loved cats. And what's more cliché than a witch owning a cat?

Lily saw the barrier in the distance and gripped her ticket. She wasn't focused on her surroundings and crashed into someone, causing her to fall to the ground and hit her head on that someone.

"Ow! God, oh—I'm so sorry!"

Lily regained focus and noticed that she bumped into her boyfriend.

"Jeff! Oh my God, I'm sorry. But it's so good to see you!"

Jeff rubbed his head and helped Lily up.

"Your head is hard, Lily."

"Shut up," Lily answered, gingerly hugging Jeff. "I guess I was just paying too much attention to the Platform and not looking where I was going."

"It's perfectly fine," Jeff said, pecking her cheek. "Shall we go to the Platform?"

Lily nodded and attached her hands to her trunks.

They walked together more slowly talking about their summer and school. Lily paid attention to every detail but was a little distracted on Jeff's looks. He was _very _tall, at least 6'2. Lily didn't mind it though, since she was 5'8 and was almost taller than everyone she knew (besides a few boys). He had dark, chocolate skin and short, curly black hair. His eyes were pitch black. They weren't menacing, but warm. He wasn't as fit as some of the other boys, like Sirius Black, but he was healthy enough.

Jeff linked his fingers with Lily as they casually leaned against the barrier. A few seconds later, they fell through, landing themselves on Platform 9¾. Jeff didn't let go off her hand, but squeezed tighter, pulling her along the platform. They passed students Lily has seen before. She passed a few nervous first years and remembered her first time on the Platform. Like usual, she had been arguing with her sister.

Jeff stopped Lily and looked down at her. "Lily, I—I need to tell you something."

"Sure, Jeff. What's up?"

Jeff blinked a few times too many and said, "Um—I can tell you on the train."

"No, you can't," said Lily. "Prefect, remember?"

"Oh, right. Okay then I'll d-do it at school."

Lily stared at him. "Are you alright, Jeff?"

He nodded quickly. "Never better. How about I go put away our trunks, yeah?"

Before waiting for a response, he grabbed her things and pulled them away with him towards the back of the train. Confused, Lily started walking, searching for her friends. She saw Alice, but she was snogging Frank and Lily didn't seem up to interrupting them. Her eyes made contact with a messy haired boy, and she swore under her breath. He swaggered over to her and ran a hand through his jet-black hair.

"Hey, Evans."

"Potter," Lily curtly nodded.

Lily might have disliked James, but she couldn't deny that he was hansom. His eyes were a bright hazel and always sparkled. He was tall and fit, more fit than Jeff. He was constantly messing with his hair hoping to make it look like he'd just come off a broomstick. He wasn't tan, but he wasn't pale. He just had a normal skin tone.

"Checking me out, Evans?"

Lily looked into his eyes and glared. "Yes, actually. Your fly is down."

James quickly looked down at his dark jeans and back up at Lily.

"Very funny. That was just some lame excuse to deny that in a matter of fact, you _were _checking me out."

Lily sighed. "Whatever you say."

James looked to her left and right, then back at her. "Where's _Thomas_? I figured he'd be with you levitating your trunks or something since he's so _kind_."

"He's giving them to the conductors for your information. And you're right. He _is _so kind."

James rolled his eyes. "Why are you dating him, Red? He's so _boring. _Sure, he's intelligent and caring and sweet, but I have all of those characteristics as well."

Lily laughed coldly. "I don't know where you've been getting your compliments from, Potter, but—"

"Myself."

Lily blinked. "What?"

"I'm getting all those compliments from myself," James explained.

Lily crossed her arms and said, "You're so conceited."

"Obviously," James said in a "duh" voice, "since I'm in love with myself."

"If you're in love with yourself then you must never get rejection," said Lily.

"Not always," James smiled. "I turn myself down every once in a while to keep things interesting."

He smirked and once again, ran a hand through his hair. Lily huffed and James took a step closer. "Come on, Evans, you know I'm joking. I'm not in love with myself but with a bird. I'm not telling you who so wipe that hopeful look off your face."

"I wasn't going to ask," said Lily. "And you? In love?"

"Is that surprising?"

"Um, yes."

James looked at her astonished. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because you're James Potter!" Lily exclaimed, using her hands for effect. "All you care about is Quidditch and pranks and other silly things. It's _impossible _for you to be _in love_."

James took a step back. "You know what, Evans? This year, I'm going to prove to you that I _can_ be in love. You'll see and maybe you'll figure out who I'm in love with."

Lily thought for a moment. "Is it that Ravenclaw girl you shagged last May? Because she has a boyfriend now and—"

"Hell no, Red," James quickly responded, shaking his head. "You know who it is. Oh, Padfoot—Sirius—is waving over there, see? I have to go. Later, Evans."

He gave her one last crooked grin before running off to his other friends.

* * *

James was so stupid. Couldn't he ever be _mature _when he talked to Lily? He always said something stupid that made her mad and annoyed. Merlin, she's _never _going to figure out who it is.

James ran over to his best friend as Sirius smirked.

"No luck?" he asked as James shook his head. "As usual."

"Shut up," replied James.

Sirius clapped his back. "Ah, you know I'm right, Prongs."

James sighed and his eyes landed on Remus Lupin walking over with his Mum. They were getting closer and James could hear what they were saying.

"Mum," Remus complained. "I'll be fine. I've been fine the past five years."

His mother looked worried as she looked up at her son. Mrs. Lupin was a short, skinny woman with light grey hair and a round face. James had only met her a few times and doesn't plan on doing it again.

"I know, Remus," Mrs. Lupin said. "But—I just want you to be careful. You could hurt someone."

Remus' face became blank.

"I don't _hurt _people," Remus said sharply, "and I never plan to. No one knows about me and I transform in a protected place."

Mrs. Lupin still didn't look convinced. "I just don't want some innocent child to turn into _you _because you bit them."

Remus swiftly said, "Goodbye," and walked away from his mother. He found James and Sirius and headed over to them.

"Did you hear that?" Remus asked madly.

James nodded whereas Sirius turned his head towards his friends and said, "What?"

James rolled his eyes. As usual, Sirius wasn't listening. "Hey, Padfoot. How about you go look for Wormtail? I haven't seen him yet."

Sirius agreed and disappeared into the crowd of students.

James turned to Remus who didn't look so mad anymore, but had a glum expression on his face. That's the thing with Remus' mum. She's not so worried about _Remus _getting hurt or in trouble, but if Remus is the _reason _that other kids get hurt or in trouble.

"I hate her," Remus said. "She doesn't care about me, only if I get locked up in prison because I bite someone."

"Moony," James started but Remus held up his hand.

"No, don't say something crappy that's supposed to make me feel better. I hate her."

James kept his mouth shut as they went to look for Sirius and Peter.

* * *

Alice broke away from Frank and smiled up at him. He held his hands in her short, straight hair and bent down once more to kiss her forehead.

"I think we should get on the train," Alice whispered, looking over at the large clock on the wall. "It's five to eleven."

"So we've got five more minutes," Frank answered.

Alice smiled but got serious. "Frank, we have to. We're Prefects."

"Who cares?" Frank answered.

Alice gasped. "Did you really just say that?"

Frank nodded. "I know. The Marauders are rubbing off on me."

"Well, you do share a dorm with them."

Alice's arms were wrapped around Frank's neck as she leaned against the wall furthest from the Hogwarts Express. She, unlike so many others, was very happy to go back to school. She hadn't seen Frank since last June since he was away visiting family along the coast. The whole summer was absolutely boring. I mean, she hung out with her friends a couple times, but besides that, boring.

Also, this was the year to prove that she could become Head Girl. She wanted that position more than anybody in the world. Her only problem was Lily Evans. Alice was probably Lily's best friend out of their group of four. She loved Marlene and Mary, but Alice and Lily were just closer. Lily was also a prefect and was a candidate for Head Girl. Lily as well wanted the spot, but not as much as Alice. Alice loved Lily, but she _would _get Head Girl next year.

"What are you thinking about?" Frank asked, interrupting Alice's thoughts.

"Head Girl," she admitted.

"Don't worry, Al," said Frank. "You'll get it. And besides, you have the whole year to prove yourself. Come on, Let's go."

They let go of each other and held hands instead, boarding the train to Hogwarts.

* * *

"Dylan! Come on! The train is going to leave without us!"

Marlene grabbed Dylan's hand and pulled him through the train station. Marlene didn't see, but Dylan blushed slightly as her fingers interlocked with his. They hastily pulled their trunks behind them as they sped past people, heading towards Platform 9 and 10.

"Marlene!" Dylan yelled as she pulled him through the barrier, letting go of his hand.

Once through, Dylan stopped her. "You didn't even check if people were watching! The Muggles probably saw us because we were rushing."

Marlene shrugged her shoulders. "What are they gonna do? Throw me in Azkaban because a few Muggles saw us running through a wall? No one saw us, Dylan, and if they did, they'll probably think they went mad and forget about it."

Dylan shook his head at her and she rolled her eyes. They quickly headed towards the back of the train and put their trunks with the very few that weren't loaded on yet. The Platform only consisted of adults and very young children. The train started, and blew its horn.

"It's leaving!" Marlene exclaimed, running up to the front with Dylan on her heels.

They reached the train door, and a conductor was about to close it when Marlene grabbed it harshly. "Oh, no you don't."

Marlene and Dylan climbed on, bending over, out of breath.

"That was close," Marlene breathed, looking at Dylan.

Dylan glared at her but soon, the corners of his lips raised. "Merlin, Marlene. You're crazy, you are."

Marlene playfully hit him on the arm. "At least it's not my fault we were late."

Dylan gasped. "Marlene Hughes, are you blaming _me _for being late when _you're _the one who failed to show up on time for the Underground?"

"No, I'm not blaming you. I'm only joking," said Marlene. "And you know me, I couldn't figure out how to purchase a ticket. Muggle money confuses me."

Dylan and her started casually walking down the train corridor, searching for a compartment. The first one (passed the Head and Prefect carriages) carried five scared first years, not talking to one another. The second had three fifth years, playing a disastrous game of Exploding Snap.

"You could have written to me yesterday or this morning asking how to use it," Dylan told her, keeping an eye out for a compartment they could enter.

"Well—I didn't," Marlene answered. "I didn't want to bother you as you finished packing. And besides, you were probably really busy this morning. You know, saying goodbye to your family, again, last minute packing, and other things."

"Marlene, you could have owled me."

"Too late," she answered. "Oh, here's a compartment! Mary's in there with Alice and Frank. Come on."

* * *

Mary tried listening to Frank explain his summer, but simply couldn't. She stared out the window, and didn't even notice when Marlene and Dylan came in, plopping down next to her. She briefly said hello, but went back to looking at London turn into rolling hills and snow-capped mountains. Even though she had known for about a week, she still couldn't believe it.

Mary MacDonald was always careful. _Always. _She was always prepared and never made mistakes or forget. But this time, she did. And this time, it was with Jeff Thomas.

* * *

Lily and Jeff were alone in the fairly large prefect carriage, while the others were on patrol. Jeff wasn't a prefect, but since Lily was, he was in there with her. Lily tucked a loose strand of red hair behind her ear and noticed that Jeff looked anxious.

"What's wrong, Jeff?" she asked earnestly.

He gulped and looked anywhere but her eyes. "You know how on the Platform I wanted to tell you something?"

"Yeah," said Lily.

"But you said I couldn't tell you on the train because you were a prefect. Well, you're not patrolling right now so I can obviously tell you now.

Lily said, "Okay, so tell me," in an okay-get-to-the-point voice.

Jeff took a deep breath. "I know we've only been dating for five months, and before that, we never really talked. But I've known you for six years now. Ever since I laid eyes on you in first year, I knew. I just knew. And this isn't a really long speech but Lily Evans-"

"Oh, God, please don't propose," Lily said.

Jeff's dark cheeks became even darker. "Um—no—I'm not proposing. We're sixteen."

Lily sighed of relief. "Sorry, it's just the way you were talking. Continue."

Jeff looked into her green eyes this time. "I love you."

Lily blinked. "What?"

"I love you," he repeated with more courage. "I've always loved you, even before I knew it myself. And I just want you to know that since I feel this way about you, I wouldn't do anything to upset you. Especially cheating. I'm not a cheater. Nope."

Lily was surprised and felt very awkward right then. She liked Jeff, she really did. But _love _him? What was she supposed to say back? I love you, too? No, because if she did, she'd be lying. So Lily just settled for, "Okay."

This time, Jeff blinked. "Okay?"

"Okay," said Lily again. "Just, I'm sixteen, Jeff. I'm not sure I even know what love _is. _I really like you, and if it's okay with you, I'm not gonna say it back."

Jeff leaned back against the seat. "It's okay. I sorta figured you wouldn't. Just know that this is how I feel and I'll always be there for you, okay? I hope that soon enough, you can say it back."

"Alright," Lily answered awkwardly.

* * *

James sat in a compartment with his fellow Marauders and they were planning the start of term prank. Peter had a few ideas, but they weren't _that _exciting. Remus wasn't really pitching in since he was still upset about the row with his mum. Sirius has _too _many exciting ideas and most of them would probably injure someone. James on the other hand, thought of something genius.

"I've got it!" shouted James, snapping his fingers for effect. "Fireworks."

"That's not really a prank," Peter said in a ginger tone.

"Yeah, not exactly," James said, "but it would be a brilliant show. And I'm sure McGonagall would _love _it."

Sirius snickered. "Oh, sure. Minnie would absolutely love it. But that's not a bad idea, Prongs. Yes, it's not really a prank but it would be entertaining. It would be in the Great Hall, of course."

"Of course," James agreed. "Moony, should we do that? Fireworks?"

Remus nodded lightly but kept his eyes peeled on the sunset that every so often would hide behind the mountains.

James knew not to talk about what happened earlier and started to plan the "prank" with the other three.

The Marauders had stashed some fireworks behind a statue about two years ago but never used them yet. They were saving them for a time like this. Since everyone would be in the Great Hall for the welcoming feast, including Filch and most likely Peeves, Sirius and Peter would use the Invisibility Cloak to fetch the fireworks while James and Remus would wait outside the Hall for them to come back. Once they've retrieved the fireworks, they will set them up positioned facing the Great Hall. After they're finished, they'll pull open the large doors and light the fireworks, having them explode into the enchanted ceiling.

"Oh, this is genius," smirked Sirius.

"I know," James smiled.

* * *

The Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station, letting out all the students. At the front of the train stood the gamekeeper, Hagrid, yelling, "Firs' years this way! All firs' years!" The sky was crawling with twinkling stars and a bright crescent. Most of the students walked out of the station and into the forest where they would find carriages being pulled by nothing. Or so they thought was nothing. Most people couldn't see the Thestrals, but a fair few could.

Lily could see them.

It's quite simple, really. When Lily was thirteen years old, her father became sick. He didn't last even six months after he was diagnosed. Lily tried to persuade him that people at St. Mungo's could heal him, but he didn't want to go. He told her, "I'm just some silly Muggle. That's what you call us, right? I'm sure they don't want someone like me, but special people like you. You're special, Lily, and I'm proud of you. You can do incredible things, but I can't. I don't want to cheat death, sweetheart."

Lily had cried. "But Dad, it—it wouldn't b-be cheating death. They can fix you."

"No they can't," he answered. "No one can fix cancer. But I'll be up in heaven, and one day, you'll see me again."

Lily knew that he was right. No one could fix him. He was also right about the heaven part. She would see him again, but it seemed so far away. She didn't want to wait the rest of her life to die and then go up into the clouds. But she had to, because life was a gift from Him, and she knew better.

Her dad died right in front of her eyes…kind of. He was in the hospital, and she had fallen asleep in the chair next to him. When she woke up, the line was flat and the room was filled with doctors and nurses. She remembered screaming, fighting the nurses who pulled her out of the room and down the hall. She remembered crying into her mother's arms while Petunia had a dead stare on her face. She remembered coming back to school that September, and noticing the fleshy creatures that pulled the carriages. When she questioned people about it, they looked at her crazy. She eventually asked Hagrid, and he told her what they were.

As Lily entered a carriage with Jeff, she frowned at the creature, knowing why she could see them.

* * *

**A/N: Please review!**

**-Alexandra**


	2. 2: September 1976

**DISCLAIMER: J.K. owns everything, I simply do not because I'm not a brilliant writer like her.**

**A/N: Yay, an update!**

* * *

Previously: The Students of Hogwarts travel from Platform 9 3/4 to the school on the Hogwarts Express. Jeff Thomas, Lily Evans' boyfriend, tells her that he loves her. Lily doesn't feel the same way back. She likes him, but doesn't quite love him. James Potter tells Lily that he's in love with someone and that he can prove that he's able to be in love. Mary MacDonald figures out some bad news based off of what her and Jeff did over the summer. Alice Prewett wants to prove this year that she's a better choice for Head Girl than Lily is, even though they're best friends. Lily can see Thestrals, since her father died when she was thirteen.

**Chapter Two**

The carriages pulled up to the castle gates and let the students off. Lily looked at the Thestral one last time before entering the castle boundries with Jeff. He grabbed her hand and she grabbed it back, but felt weird.

_"I love you."_

Lily was positively sure that things were going to be different between them. Better for Jeff, now that he's gotten that burden (was it?) off his chest and awkward for Lily, since she didn't feel the same way back.

She looked at the tall trees and through them, only saw darkness. She could hear the creatures lurking inside them and was glad that she was safe inside the castle walls. She and Jeff rounded a corner, and there it was. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. All the windows were dark except for the Great Hall. Light shone from the windows and Lily wondered what the ceiling would look like tonight. Would is match the clear, starry sky? Or would it be a cloudy storm with rain that never touched the ground?

Once across the bridge that separated the school from the forests, they entered through the wide double doors with the rest of the eager students. From the Entrance Hall, they walked into the Great Hall. The four long house tables were already halfway filled up. Lily took the first open seat and Jeff started to sit next to her, but she stopped him.

"Do you mind if I sit with my friends tonight, Jeff?" she asked as sweetly as possible. "I didn't see them the whole train ride I would love the chat over the feast. You don't mind, right?"

"Sure," said Jeff, sitting a few spots down to her right.

Lily scanned the packed room for anyone familiar and her eyes caught Snape. He was walking with Mark Avery. Not too far behind was Jasper Mulciber with another Slytherin Lily didn't know too well. They sat all the way in the back of the Slytherin table and started talking with their heads together. It was short. Lily wished she knew what they were saying. They stopped talking and focused their attention to the front of the room. "Lily!"

Lily turned her head and found Mary looking down at her. They hugged and Mary plopped down in the seat to Lily's left.

"Oh, I haven't seen you in a month!" Mary squealed. "How was August? Well, I already know it was dreadfully hot so don't mention that. I'm glad that up here, it's nice and cool since we're always getting a breeze from the Lake. I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Lily smiled. "It's fine, Mary. I'm happy to see you as well. August was fine. I spent a lot of time with my mum, you know."

Mary nodded. "Me as well. Of course, my whole family came one weekend and it was awful! You've been to my house. It's meant for three people, no one more. Well, maybe one or two. But when my mum's sisters came with their kids and my grandparents and my dad's entire side—it was awfully crowded. Damn, I talk too _much._ Hey, here comes Marlene and Dylan."

The two girls looked directly in front of them to see Marlene and Dylan. They sat on the bench and smiled.

"Hello, Lily, Mary," said Marlene. "I would be a lot more excited right now if it wasn't for my lack of sleep. I was up all night packing."

"So _that's _why you couldn't figure out the Underground," Dylan said. "Sleep deprived, this one."

Dylan went into this whole story on the day starting with this morning when they were last for the train. Marlene cut in a few times correcting Dylan's mistakes. They laughed and smiled. Lily smiled too. She was happy when other people were happy.

She suddenly remembered and looked up at the ceiling. It was like the universe smashed into a box. The ceiling sparkled with stars and colors. Every once in a while, a comet would wiz across the lights, leaving behind a trail of glitter.

"Isn't the ceiling lovely tonight?" Lily asked her friends.

They all nodded and started talking about the ceiling's worst enchantments. Alice and Frank soon sat down on Mary's right while the Marauders seemed to be absent. Lily caught Emmeline and Dorcas sit down, and soon, the sorting began.

It started with Alby, Justin, and ended with Zook, Emily. Once all the first years were seated happily in their new houses, Dumbledore got up and stood behind his owl podium.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts!" he beamed, smiling at everyone. "And welcome to all our newcomers. Firstly, I want to say that the Dark Forrest is strictly forbidden to any student who does to wish to die a slow, painful death. I would also like to introduce the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Herbert Javala."

Most students in the room snickered at the name, but Dumbledore calmly told the room to be quiet.

"Professor Javala was once a student at this school. I remember his work and he was fantastic at the subject he will now teach. I expect you all to respect him as your teacher and welcome him to our school. Now, I would say more, but I peaked earlier at the kitchens and the food does look marvelous tonight. Let the feast begin!"

That's when the fireworks started.

(September 2nd)

The next morning, all the students were talking about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Well, his name anyway. Some said his name sounded like coffee, others said it sounded like lava. Mary thought the name was hilarious, but couldn't seem to laugh.

Her eyes caught Jeff a few times that morning, but he was with Lily. They looked happy. Last night, Mary seemed _too_ fake, rambling on like the way she did. She did that when she was nervous. Maybe Lily didn't notice. She didn't seem too happy last night, either. Did Jeff tell her? Well, obviously not, since they were chatting all morning about their schedules.

Mary needed to tell Jeff, but she couldn't. What would happen? And who knows how her relationship with Lily would end up. Lily was one of her best friends and she couldn't go on without someone like her in Mary's life.

While Mary made up possible scenarios in her head, someone poked her shoulder. She turned around in the crowded fourth floor corridor to find Jeff Thomas.

Mary could feel her face go red. Her stomach dropped. She felt as if she was going to throw up. Maybe she would.

"Hi, Mary," Jeff said awkwardly, his hands in the pockets of his school robe.

Mary took a deep breath and said, "Hi."

Jeff pulled her to the side so they were leaning against the wall. Students passed them in a hurry, getting to their first class of the day.

"Look, Mary," Jeff started, "I remember what happened over the summer at that party that Sean Key had. I remember everything."

Mary gulped.

"I just want you to know that I love Lily and I don't want her to ever find out. I know that you love her too, as a friend, and that you wouldn't want her to find out either, right?"

Mary nodded.

"Okay. Then what happened happened. It's the past and doesn't need to be mentioned ever. We were drunk and weren't thinking. It's over, okay? I have to get to class. I'll see you around, Mary."

Jeff left Mary supporting herself against the wall. Mary felt her eyes water and she ran to the nearest bathroom. There were a few second years in there. Mary yelled at them to get out and they walked out with scared expressions on her face. She slumped into a stall and sat on the lid, crying into her hands.

* * *

"You _destroy_ the Slytherin table, leave ash and sparks all over the floor and food that the Elves cleaned and cooked for _hours_, and you disrupt the Welcoming Feast with loud bangs. This is awful behavior! It seems that every year you four just get _worse_ and _worse!_"

Professor McGonagall was screaming at the Marauders in her office while they stood in front of her desk with their hands behind their backs. McGonagall looked at Remus and said, "Lupin, I expect better from you. I recommended you to be a prefect last year so you could control your friends. Last year was the beginning, so I didn't think you'd control them quite yet. But already, the first evening back, and you let them practically destroy the Great Hall."

Remus didn't respond quick enough, for Sirius beat him to it.

"Minnie, we did _not _destroy the Great Hall. It was only the Slytherin table. They're gits as it is, and we thought the fireworks would be a fun display to welcome back the students of Hogwarts."

McGonagall's lips turned into a fine line as she glared at Sirius Black.

"The food still tasted delicious," mumbled Peter.

"Exactly," said James. "Besides, no one got hurt. That's all that matters, right? Be grateful we didn't do something completely disastrous. Actually, you should thank us for putting on a show and not pranking all the students including the teachers. And did you see Professor Dumbledore's face? He thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe that's why you're yelling at us and he's not."

McGonagall looked furious and talked to the boys as If she was talking to a four year old.

"I'm yelling at you lot because I'm the head of your House. Professor Dumbledore is the Headmaster and deals with very serious punishments. This is just another one of your silly little games. You all get detention."

The boys just sighed. They were used to it after all.

"Every night the rest of this week. I'm going to split you up, too," said McGonagall. "And Black, you're getting an extra two days for calling me Minnie. I shall be known as _Professor McGonagall _or _Professor. _Do you understand?"

"Yes, _Professor," _Sirius answered with an attitude.

"Black, you will be with Filch cleaning the trophy room. No magic. If you've finished, you will move on to the lavatories. Potter, you will be with me, grading papers. Again, no magic. Lupin, you will serve time with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. He's been saying he needs a hand. And lastly, Pettigrew, you will simply write lines. But you will have to be put with Professor Javala since Potter will be with me all week."

Sirius groaned.

Potter sighed.

Lupin shrugged.

Pettigrew slumped.

Oh, the Marauders.

* * *

Severus Snape really messed things up.

No, not something like a school paper but more like losing his best friend.

Severus saw Lily on the Platform but she was with her _boyfriend _and it would have been very awkward to go up and talk to her then. At school last night, she never left one of her friend's sides. Anyway, either Mulciber, Avery, or Travers always had an eye on him. If he wanted to talk to Lily, it would have to be quick and private. Or maybe he could just beg Professor Slughorn to pair them up in Potions.

Severus was on his way to Herbology (the worst class ever in his opinion) when someone grabbed his arm and pulled him behind one of the greenhouses. He saw that it was Jasper Mulciber. Jasper was the same height as Severus, with dark brown hair and pale skin. He was sort of handsome in a menacing way.

"What?" growled Severus, rubbing the red spot on his arm where Mulciber had gripped him.

"There's going to be an attack in Hogsmead," explained Mulciber in a hushed tone.

Severus looked around to make sure no one was there and then said, "How is it possible that you already know something like that?"

"Malfoy."

Severus shook his head. "No, we just got back to school. He owled you _already_?"

Mulciber nodded. "Yeah, he said that there's this sorta event going on down there. It's going to be jam packed with mudbloods. It's some sort of rally or what not. Malfoy wants us to be there when it all goes down. You know, as an example on how it's done."

Severus' face went blank. "Are there—is anyone gonna die?"

"No, you idiot. A few of the Dark Lord's followers are just gonna have some fun. We're just supposed to lay low and watch. Malfoy said that that's what we gotta do first if we want to join. You know, understand the things we're gonna have to do. It's not that big of a deal."

Severus pushed the greasy hair that fell into his face back and asked, "When is it?"

"The 27th," Mulciber answered. "A Sunday. You in or what, Snape?"

Severus hesitated. "I'm not sure."

Mulciber's expression turned dark. "If you don't go, Malfoy's gonna think you're not ready. If he doesn't think you're ready, he's gonna go off telling everyone else and the word will get to the Dark Lord. Then you'll never join. You should be grateful no one leaked about that friendship you had with that Evans girl. Good thing you finally ended it and called her what she really is."

Severus filled with anger but refused to let it show. If Mulciber knew what Severus was thinking, it was over. Severus clenched his fists at his sides and said, "I'm coming."

Mulciber smiled. "Good. Now we ought to get to Herbology. Wouldn't want to miss any classes on the first day, yeah?"

* * *

Professor Herbert Javala was not skinny. He wasn't necessarily heavy, either. He was chunky, you could say. He was in his mid-fourties and had a stack of blonde curls on his head streaked with grey. He always wore navy blue robes to represent his House, Ravenclaw. Not once was he not wearing something that didn't have the color blue on it somewhere. He was very proud of his House and liked to show it.

It's quite simple, really.

He was excited to teach. Teaching was one of the things he always wanted to do. A spot opened up each year for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, but someone always beat him to it. Not this year. This year, he would prove that he would be back next year. The so-called curse on the D.A.D.A position was some silly myth that happened each year by conscience. That's it.

When the students pilled into his classroom for the third time that day, he lost all hope.

First of all, there were four boys who sat in the back and simply looked like trouble. The Headmaster warned him about them. Dumbledore said they were kind boys, but liked to start mischief. There were a few Slytherins who sat in the back left that seemed a little too confident about the class. They had a dark look in their eyes that scared Herbert a little. After all, Herbert was a Ravenclaw, not a Gryffindor. He smiled at four girls who sat in the middle and looked sweet. Except one kept giving dreamy stares to a tall boy who kept giving them back. Herbert did not like couples.

When he started to teach, the four boys in the back kept making fun of his name. He found out that the short one would be writing lines with him for the next week. Joy.

Professor Herbert Javala knew that this class in particular was going to be interesting.

* * *

"This guy seems so full of himself," Mary muttered to Marlene who sat next to her.

"Hey," Lily leaned over to her right so she could whisper to Mary. "He's only said, 'Welcome.'"

"Yeah, and he seems so full of himself," Mary repeated.

Marlene rolled her eyes and Alice wasn't even paying attention.

"Alice," Mary whispered across the desks. "What do you think?"

Alice continued to flirt with Frank who sat a few rows ahead of her.

"Alice," said Mary again.

Alice tuned toward the three girls and said, "Hm?"

"Seriously," started Marlene. "It's the first day back and you're already doing-that? You two snogged all last night. At least I hopped you only snogged."

Alice blushed. "Shut up. And were you talking about Javala?"

The girls nodded.

"I think he seems alright," answered Alice.

"Exactly," Lily nodded.

Mary leaned back in her chair. "I don't know. He seems a bit conceited if you asked me."

"Well, no one did ask you," Marlene told her.

Mary was about to respond when the Professor started speaking.

* * *

Lily had a free period after lunch.

Sweet.

Usually with spare time, she'd spend it doing homework or studying. Since it was the first day, she didn't really have anything to do. She traveled to the common room and found it occupied by a few students who had a free period as well. Fortunately, it consisted of Remus Lupin. Unfortunately, it consisted of James Potter.

"Oi, Evans!" James yelled from his spot on the red sofa.

Lily kept walking toward the stairs but James got up and blocked her path.

She tried to move past him but he didn't let her.

"No," he said. "You're going to hang with Remus and I."

Lily held up her bag and said, "Can I at least go put this up in my room?"

James grabbed it. "I will."

"You can't get up the stairs," Lily explained.

James smirked and ran up the steps. A few seconds later, he came back with empty hands.

"How'd you manage to do that?"

James ran a hand through his dark hair and whispered, "Secret."

Lily loosened the tie around her neck and followed James to where he was sitting with Remus. They took up most of the couch so she settled for the armchair near the unlit fire. They had pulled up a table where a game of Wizard's Chess was.

"Why do you want me over here?" Lily asked, looking at the board. "Clearly you two were playing a game."

"Nah, we just finished," said Remus, pulling up his legs and sitting crisscross.

"And we could use some more company," said James. "Sirius and Peter went down to the kitchens to get some food. "We were all alone in here. Well, there are a few others but they're irrelevant at the moment."

James fixed his glasses that started to fall down his nose. Lily noticed that Remus had a long scratch along his left arm. In the beginning, she asked questions. Now she knew not to ask them. Remus would stutter and look very anxious. She remembered Severus saying that he was a werewolf and scratched himself, but Lily would know if her friend was a werewolf. He would tell her.

"What are you staring at?" Remus asked suddenly.

Lily looked up and said, "Nothing. Um, have the patrolling schedules been posted up yet?"

"Yeah," said Remus, getting up to go fetch them from the notice board. He came back and handed the paper to Lily.

She scanned it and sighed of relief when saw that she wasn't paired with Severus. She also saw that Remus' name was missing for this week.

"Why aren't you patrolling at all this week?" she asked, handing the paper back to Remus.

"Detention," he said, "because of the fireworks."

Lily gaped. "_Why?_ Those were actually pretty brilliant. It wasn't one of those stupid pranks you lot do but a show."

"That's what I said!" James cut in. "But McGonagall was like, 'You destroyed the Great Hall and blah blah blah.' It was my idea, you know."

Lily rolled her eyes. "That's McGonagall. But congratulations on getting week detention the moment you get back to school. That's got to be a record."

"No," said James, leaning back against the sofa and crossing his arms. "We all got two weeks last year for replacing the noodles with worms and the raisins in the cookies with—"

"Yes, I remember," said Lily, shivering. "That was absolutely disgusting."

"It was creative," Remus said.

"But _that _was Sirius' idea," James added.

"Why am I not surprised?" Lily asked mostly to herself.

* * *

Sirius and Peter came back about an hour later with bags filled with who knows what. Lily asked, but they only smiled at ran up to the dormitories. Remus followed which left Lily and James alone.

"What?" Lily asked after a while. "You're not going to ask me out this year? I figured that you would have yesterday or even sometime in the past hour. Yet, you haven't mentioned the question."

"I told you, Red," James said, taking out his wand and creating puffs of colorful smoke. "I'm in love. I'm not going to randomly ask you out every few hours when the obvious answer is no. And when a bloke's in love, he's not going to be immature and _continuously _ask a girl out. That's just daft."

Lily started playing with the hem of her blouse.

"So…you're over me then?"

James froze. If he truthfully answered that question, she would know who he was in love with. Well, it's kind of obvious what the answer was. For her to be asking that question, she must really not know. James weighed his options. If he said yes, then he'd be lying and she'd never guess who. But if he said no, then she'd know right away.

He stared at her. She stared back. Her emerald eyes were glaring at his hazel ones and he couldn't look away. She seemed to be debating whether or not to look away as well. Eventually, she cast her eyes down onto her lap. James continued to stare. Her hair fell in waves down to her chest. It grew a lot during the summer. Her left leg was crossed over her right one and he made his eyes look up. She was still looking at her lap, playing with her shirt. Her fingers fumbled and a single, silver bracelet rode up and down her wrist, glistening from the sun that shone through the windows. A few freckles dotted across her nose and cheeks. Her face looked red. Was she blushing? No, she didn't like James very much. But she did talk to him and Remus for the past hour, right? But that was probably because of Remus.

She was so beautiful, so utterly beautiful that James sucked in a breath to keep from making some sort of abnormal sound. She looked backed up at him and repeated her question. James decided what to say.

It was quite simple, really.

He said, "Yes."

Lily blinked and sat up straight. "You are?"

"Why? Disappointed?"

She slumped her shoulders and tilted her head. "_No, _just—surprised I guess."

"Why?" James asked, wanting to know her answer.

Lily shrugged. "I don't know, I guess because last year, you wouldn't leave me alone. It was always, 'Red! Go out with me?' or 'Evans, Hogsmeade this weekend?' You were so confident that one day I'd say yes just to shut you up and eventually figure out I had feelings for you—which isn't true by the way. Now this year, you say you're over me just like that?"

"Yep," James lied right through his teeth.

"Okay."

"Okay?" James repeated. "Just 'okay?'"

Lily nodded. "What else do you want me to say?"

"I dunno, maybe like, 'Oh, finally! Now you're no longer an annoying prat!' or 'Aw, I'm terribly in love with you, James Potter, will you ask me to marry you?'"

Lily laughed and said "You're still an annoying prat and I don't want to marry you."

"But you're not denying that you're terribly in love with me," James smiled.

"I'm _not," _Lily said. "Believe me, I'm not and won't ever be."

James basically choked on air and started coughing.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked earnestly.

James coughed once more before blankly saying, "Fine."

Lily looked confused and she stood up.

"Well, class starts in a few minutes so I should be going, then. You sure you're okay?"

James nodded. "I'm peachy."

Lily started for her dormitory to get her bag. "Bye, Potter."

"Bye, Evans."

* * *

Alice was in a fantastic mood.

Not that almost the entire school wasn't as well, but Alice had more to be happy about.

She was back at the brilliant school called Hogwarts. She was happily together with Frank after not seeing him since June. Her home life was great. She couldn't complain. Not to mention that her first day of sixth year went splendidly.

But as she was patrolling the eerie corridors that evening (she was alone since her "would have been" partner was in detention), she was confused when a Ravenclaw was staring at her.

It was past curfew so he shouldn't have been out. He was standing at the end of the corridor, leaning against the wall with his muscular arms crossed. His eyes looked like a swirling pool of darkness as they bored into hers.

Alice didn't recognize him at all. This was strange. Hogwarts only held 1000 students or so. Everyone knew everyone in their year, the year above, and the year below. He looked her age, maybe older.

She scanned the darkly lit corridor and realized that no portraits lined the walls. She felt herself shiver. Was she scared? No, she should just approach this boy and ask him why he's out past curfew.

Alice started towards the boy at normal pace. She kept her head held high and when she was a few feet in front of him, she noticed how tall he was. Well, Alice was only 5'3, so everyone was taller than her.

"Excuse me," she said confidently. "It's eleven. That means you're out past curfew."

He looked down at her and said lazily, "So are you."

Alice pointed to the shining badge on her chest and said, "_I'm_ a prefect so I'm allowed to be out of bed. You, however, should either be in your common room or dormitory. If you don't listen, I'm going to have to write your name down and give you detention. If I really wanted to, I could talk to the Head Boy or Girl and tell them to dock points. Would you like that?"

He just stared at her with a blank expression and then started laughing. He laughed so hard that he had to bend over to catch his breath. When he finished, he stood up straight and pushed his dark blonde hair out of his eyes.

"Listen, I don't really care if you give me detention or dock points. All I'm doing is standing here. Now if you don't mind, I was thinking before you rudely interrupted, your majesty."

He bowed and then started to walk in the opposite direction Alice came from. She knew that the direction he was going wasn't to the Ravenclaw Tower.

"Hey!" she called, running to catch up with him. "Who are you? I've never seen you here and you look my age."

"If you must know," he dragged out "know" as he replied. "I've been homeschooled the past six years. I'm a seventh year, for your information."

Alice couldn't keep up with his long strides. He seemed to notice and slowed down.

"But how did you get sorted into Ravenclaw?" Alice asked with curiosity. "You weren't at the Sorting."

"No," he answered. "I was sorted in Dumbledore's office last night. He thought it'd be weird if a seventh year was sorted with a bunch of eleven year old kids."

Alice imagined the thought and smiled. "Yeah, that'd be pretty embarrassing. Everyone would probably give you cruel nicknames and make fun of you for a few months. But they'd forget about it and then question who you are even thought they have had eight classes a week with you."

He looked at her and shook his head. "You're—detailed."

"Intellectual," she corrected, holding up her pointer finger. "And why were you homeschooled?"

He shrugged. "My mum went here. She was sort of a nerd back in the day and always got picked on. She worried that I'd be bullied too, and didn't want me to go through what she went through."

"That's sad," said Alice.

"It's idiotic," he replied. "But I was sick of homeschooling. My dad wasn't being paid enough to support my family so my mum had to go back to work. Tada, that puts me here."

Alice nodded like she understood. She didn't, though. She was a pureblood. That meant her family went back generations and generations. Her mum worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and her dad worked in the Auror Department. Her parents got paid well and she had a good life. All she could do was empathize.

"Long story short," Alice started. "I've been going here since I was eleven. My mum loved it here. My dad did as well."

They turned and found themselves in another corridor. Alice looked around and suddenly felt nervous. She didn't recognize this part of the castle at all.

"Where are we?" Alice asked, searching the hallway.

"I don't know," the seventh year replied. "You're the one who'd been here since you were eleven and happen to be a _prefect._"

She stopped walking and looked at him. "I'm not joking. I seriously have no idea where we are. It's late and dark and there are no portraits to help us and we're unlikely to come across anyone else and—"

"Ooo! Look who it is!"

The two students lifted their heads and found Peeves the Poltergeist flying in circles above them.

"What's—who's that?" the Ravenclaw asked.

"Peeves," Alice moaned. "We better get out of here."

"Oh, you don't like me then, Alice Prewett?"

"Alice?" the boy questioned.

"Yes, that's my name," said Alice, keeping her eyes on Peeves.

"Hmm," he said. "Pretty. Dumbledore did warn me of Peeves, though."

Alice didn't respond. Peeves was circling above them with his legs crossed and a big grin on his face. "Who's this newbie?"

Alice looked back at the boy. "I never got your name."

"It's Chris," he answered.

"Christy! Christy! Why are you with the dear Alice Prewett this evening? You know she has a boyfriend? Oh, Alice! It would be awful if word got out to Frank that you were caught doing certain things with the newbie! I wonder who would tell him first!"

He started to cackle and fly in big figure eights.

"Peeves!" Alice yelled. "Don't make me tell the Bloody Baron that you destroyed a perfect relationship! You know how he is about those when he didn't have a proper one himself!"

Peeves stopped circling.

"Let's make a deal, Missy," he sneered. "You don't tell the Baron and I won't tell Longbottom that you and Christy were snogging, only flirting."

Alice glared at the transparent man. "How about you don't tell Frank anything, because we were doing _nothing, _and I won't tell the Baron, alright?"

Peeves knew he lost this battle. He stuck his tongue out at her and flew away, cursing down the hall.

Alice turned to Chris. "I'm sorry. Peeves is a real pain in the arse. You think I'd be used to him by now, but you can never get used to Peeves."

Christ looked at her skeptically. "You have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah. We've been together since third year."

Chris nodded. "Well, I guess we should try to find our way back to our common rooms, yeah?"

Alice nodded. "I'll go with you until you reach Ravenclaw Tower so I don't have to give you a detention slip. And by the way, what's your last name?"

"Awkward way of asking but Johnson. Yeah, crappy name. Dad's a Muggle so it's really common."

Alice didn't think it was common at all. "Johnson. That's a _really _strange surname. It's like my best friend's last name, Evans."

Chris stopped walking and said, "Evans? What's her first name?"

"It could be a male for all you know," Alice muttered.

"Seriously, what's her name?"

"Lily. Why?"

Chris smiled. "I know her! She's my neighbor. She goes to a boarding school during the fall through beginning of summer so she's never home but—okay, duh. That makes sense."

That was quite simple, really.

"Small world," Alice murmured.

* * *

**A/N: Please review because reviews are like soft, chocolate chip cookies dipped in milk.**

**I already know my plan for Chris but I'm starting to like him so that ruins everything :( Merlin, just review, okay? Okay.**


	3. 3: September 1976

**DISCLAIMER: J.K. owns everything, I simply do not because I'm not a brilliant writer like her.**

**A/N: Yay, an update!**

* * *

Previously: The Students of Hogwarts travel from Platform 9 3/4 to the school on the Hogwarts Express. Jeff Thomas, Lily Evans' boyfriend, tells her that he loves her. Lily doesn't feel the same way back. She likes him, but doesn't quite love him. James Potter tells Lily that he's in love with someone and that he can prove that he's able to be in love. Mary MacDonald figures out some bad news based off of what her and Jeff did over the summer. Alice Prewett wants to prove this year that she's a better choice for Head Girl than Lily is, even though they're best friends. Lily can see Thestrals, since her father died when she was thirteen.

**Chapter Two**

The carriages pulled up to the castle gates and let the students off. Lily looked at the Thestral one last time before entering the castle boundries with Jeff. He grabbed her hand and she grabbed it back, but felt weird.

_"I love you."_

Lily was positively sure that things were going to be different between them. Better for Jeff, now that he's gotten that burden (was it?) off his chest and awkward for Lily, since she didn't feel the same way back.

She looked at the tall trees and through them, only saw darkness. She could hear the creatures lurking inside them and was glad that she was safe inside the castle walls. She and Jeff rounded a corner, and there it was. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. All the windows were dark except for the Great Hall. Light shone from the windows and Lily wondered what the ceiling would look like tonight. Would is match the clear, starry sky? Or would it be a cloudy storm with rain that never touched the ground?

Once across the bridge that separated the school from the forests, they entered through the wide double doors with the rest of the eager students. From the Entrance Hall, they walked into the Great Hall. The four long house tables were already halfway filled up. Lily took the first open seat and Jeff started to sit next to her, but she stopped him.

"Do you mind if I sit with my friends tonight, Jeff?" she asked as sweetly as possible. "I didn't see them the whole train ride I would love the chat over the feast. You don't mind, right?"

"Sure," said Jeff, sitting a few spots down to her right.

Lily scanned the packed room for anyone familiar and her eyes caught Snape. He was walking with Mark Avery. Not too far behind was Jasper Mulciber with another Slytherin Lily didn't know too well. They sat all the way in the back of the Slytherin table and started talking with their heads together. It was short. Lily wished she knew what they were saying. They stopped talking and focused their attention to the front of the room. "Lily!"

Lily turned her head and found Mary looking down at her. They hugged and Mary plopped down in the seat to Lily's left.

"Oh, I haven't seen you in a month!" Mary squealed. "How was August? Well, I already know it was dreadfully hot so don't mention that. I'm glad that up here, it's nice and cool since we're always getting a breeze from the Lake. I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Lily smiled. "It's fine, Mary. I'm happy to see you as well. August was fine. I spent a lot of time with my mum, you know."

Mary nodded. "Me as well. Of course, my whole family came one weekend and it was awful! You've been to my house. It's meant for three people, no one more. Well, maybe one or two. But when my mum's sisters came with their kids and my grandparents and my dad's entire side—it was awfully crowded. Damn, I talk too _much._ Hey, here comes Marlene and Dylan."

The two girls looked directly in front of them to see Marlene and Dylan. They sat on the bench and smiled.

"Hello, Lily, Mary," said Marlene. "I would be a lot more excited right now if it wasn't for my lack of sleep. I was up all night packing."

"So _that's _why you couldn't figure out the Underground," Dylan said. "Sleep deprived, this one."

Dylan went into this whole story on the day starting with this morning when they were last for the train. Marlene cut in a few times correcting Dylan's mistakes. They laughed and smiled. Lily smiled too. She was happy when other people were happy.

She suddenly remembered and looked up at the ceiling. It was like the universe smashed into a box. The ceiling sparkled with stars and colors. Every once in a while, a comet would wiz across the lights, leaving behind a trail of glitter.

"Isn't the ceiling lovely tonight?" Lily asked her friends.

They all nodded and started talking about the ceiling's worst enchantments. Alice and Frank soon sat down on Mary's right while the Marauders seemed to be absent. Lily caught Emmeline and Dorcas sit down, and soon, the sorting began.

It started with Alby, Justin, and ended with Zook, Emily. Once all the first years were seated happily in their new houses, Dumbledore got up and stood behind his owl podium.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts!" he beamed, smiling at everyone. "And welcome to all our newcomers. Firstly, I want to say that the Dark Forrest is strictly forbidden to any student who does to wish to die a slow, painful death. I would also like to introduce the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Herbert Javala."

Most students in the room snickered at the name, but Dumbledore calmly told the room to be quiet.

"Professor Javala was once a student at this school. I remember his work and he was fantastic at the subject he will now teach. I expect you all to respect him as your teacher and welcome him to our school. Now, I would say more, but I peaked earlier at the kitchens and the food does look marvelous tonight. Let the feast begin!"

That's when the fireworks started.

(September 2nd)

The next morning, all the students were talking about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Well, his name anyway. Some said his name sounded like coffee, others said it sounded like lava. Mary thought the name was hilarious, but couldn't seem to laugh.

Her eyes caught Jeff a few times that morning, but he was with Lily. They looked happy. Last night, Mary seemed _too_ fake, rambling on like the way she did. She did that when she was nervous. Maybe Lily didn't notice. She didn't seem too happy last night, either. Did Jeff tell her? Well, obviously not, since they were chatting all morning about their schedules.

Mary needed to tell Jeff, but she couldn't. What would happen? And who knows how her relationship with Lily would end up. Lily was one of her best friends and she couldn't go on without someone like her in Mary's life.

While Mary made up possible scenarios in her head, someone poked her shoulder. She turned around in the crowded fourth floor corridor to find Jeff Thomas.

Mary could feel her face go red. Her stomach dropped. She felt as if she was going to throw up. Maybe she would.

"Hi, Mary," Jeff said awkwardly, his hands in the pockets of his school robe.

Mary took a deep breath and said, "Hi."

Jeff pulled her to the side so they were leaning against the wall. Students passed them in a hurry, getting to their first class of the day.

"Look, Mary," Jeff started, "I remember what happened over the summer at that party that Sean Key had. I remember everything."

Mary gulped.

"I just want you to know that I love Lily and I don't want her to ever find out. I know that you love her too, as a friend, and that you wouldn't want her to find out either, right?"

Mary nodded.

"Okay. Then what happened happened. It's the past and doesn't need to be mentioned ever. We were drunk and weren't thinking. It's over, okay? I have to get to class. I'll see you around, Mary."

Jeff left Mary supporting herself against the wall. Mary felt her eyes water and she ran to the nearest bathroom. There were a few second years in there. Mary yelled at them to get out and they walked out with scared expressions on her face. She slumped into a stall and sat on the lid, crying into her hands.

* * *

"You _destroy_ the Slytherin table, leave ash and sparks all over the floor and food that the Elves cleaned and cooked for _hours_, and you disrupt the Welcoming Feast with loud bangs. This is awful behavior! It seems that every year you four just get _worse_ and _worse!_"

Professor McGonagall was screaming at the Marauders in her office while they stood in front of her desk with their hands behind their backs. McGonagall looked at Remus and said, "Lupin, I expect better from you. I recommended you to be a prefect last year so you could control your friends. Last year was the beginning, so I didn't think you'd control them quite yet. But already, the first evening back, and you let them practically destroy the Great Hall."

Remus didn't respond quick enough, for Sirius beat him to it.

"Minnie, we did _not _destroy the Great Hall. It was only the Slytherin table. They're gits as it is, and we thought the fireworks would be a fun display to welcome back the students of Hogwarts."

McGonagall's lips turned into a fine line as she glared at Sirius Black.

"The food still tasted delicious," mumbled Peter.

"Exactly," said James. "Besides, no one got hurt. That's all that matters, right? Be grateful we didn't do something completely disastrous. Actually, you should thank us for putting on a show and not pranking all the students including the teachers. And did you see Professor Dumbledore's face? He thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe that's why you're yelling at us and he's not."

McGonagall looked furious and talked to the boys as If she was talking to a four year old.

"I'm yelling at you lot because I'm the head of your House. Professor Dumbledore is the Headmaster and deals with very serious punishments. This is just another one of your silly little games. You all get detention."

The boys just sighed. They were used to it after all.

"Every night the rest of this week. I'm going to split you up, too," said McGonagall. "And Black, you're getting an extra two days for calling me Minnie. I shall be known as _Professor McGonagall _or _Professor. _Do you understand?"

"Yes, _Professor," _Sirius answered with an attitude.

"Black, you will be with Filch cleaning the trophy room. No magic. If you've finished, you will move on to the lavatories. Potter, you will be with me, grading papers. Again, no magic. Lupin, you will serve time with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. He's been saying he needs a hand. And lastly, Pettigrew, you will simply write lines. But you will have to be put with Professor Javala since Potter will be with me all week."

Sirius groaned.

Potter sighed.

Lupin shrugged.

Pettigrew slumped.

Oh, the Marauders.

* * *

Severus Snape really messed things up.

No, not something like a school paper but more like losing his best friend.

Severus saw Lily on the Platform but she was with her _boyfriend _and it would have been very awkward to go up and talk to her then. At school last night, she never left one of her friend's sides. Anyway, either Mulciber, Avery, or Travers always had an eye on him. If he wanted to talk to Lily, it would have to be quick and private. Or maybe he could just beg Professor Slughorn to pair them up in Potions.

Severus was on his way to Herbology (the worst class ever in his opinion) when someone grabbed his arm and pulled him behind one of the greenhouses. He saw that it was Jasper Mulciber. Jasper was the same height as Severus, with dark brown hair and pale skin. He was sort of handsome in a menacing way.

"What?" growled Severus, rubbing the red spot on his arm where Mulciber had gripped him.

"There's going to be an attack in Hogsmead," explained Mulciber in a hushed tone.

Severus looked around to make sure no one was there and then said, "How is it possible that you already know something like that?"

"Malfoy."

Severus shook his head. "No, we just got back to school. He owled you _already_?"

Mulciber nodded. "Yeah, he said that there's this sorta event going on down there. It's going to be jam packed with mudbloods. It's some sort of rally or what not. Malfoy wants us to be there when it all goes down. You know, as an example on how it's done."

Severus' face went blank. "Are there—is anyone gonna die?"

"No, you idiot. A few of the Dark Lord's followers are just gonna have some fun. We're just supposed to lay low and watch. Malfoy said that that's what we gotta do first if we want to join. You know, understand the things we're gonna have to do. It's not that big of a deal."

Severus pushed the greasy hair that fell into his face back and asked, "When is it?"

"The 29th," Mulciber answered. "A Sunday. You in or what, Snape?"

Severus hesitated. "I'm not sure."

Mulciber's expression turned dark. "If you don't go, Malfoy's gonna think you're not ready. If he doesn't think you're ready, he's gonna go off telling everyone else and the word will get to the Dark Lord. Then you'll never join. You should be grateful no one leaked about that friendship you had with that Evans girl. Good thing you finally ended it and called her what she really is."

Severus filled with anger but refused to let it show. If Mulciber knew what Severus was thinking, it was over. Severus clenched his fists at his sides and said, "I'm coming."

Mulciber smiled. "Good. Now we ought to get to Herbology. Wouldn't want to miss any classes on the first day, yeah?"

* * *

Professor Herbert Javala was not skinny. He wasn't necessarily heavy, either. He was chunky, you could say. He was in his mid-fourties and had a stack of blonde curls on his head streaked with grey. He always wore navy blue robes to represent his House, Ravenclaw. Not once was he not wearing something that didn't have the color blue on it somewhere. He was very proud of his House and liked to show it.

It's quite simple, really.

He was excited to teach. Teaching was one of the things he always wanted to do. A spot opened up each year for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, but someone always beat him to it. Not this year. This year, he would prove that he would be back next year. The so-called curse on the D.A.D.A position was some silly myth that happened each year by conscience. That's it.

When the students pilled into his classroom for the third time that day, he lost all hope.

First of all, there were four boys who sat in the back and simply looked like trouble. The Headmaster warned him about them. Dumbledore said they were kind boys, but liked to start mischief. There were a few Slytherins who sat in the back left that seemed a little too confident about the class. They had a dark look in their eyes that scared Herbert a little. After all, Herbert was a Ravenclaw, not a Gryffindor. He smiled at four girls who sat in the middle and looked sweet. Except one kept giving dreamy stares to a tall boy who kept giving them back. Herbert did not like couples.

When he started to teach, the four boys in the back kept making fun of his name. He found out that the short one would be writing lines with him for the next week. Joy.

Professor Herbert Javala knew that this class in particular was going to be interesting.

* * *

"This guy seems so full of himself," Mary muttered to Marlene who sat next to her.

"Hey," Lily leaned over to her right so she could whisper to Mary. "He's only said, 'Welcome.'"

"Yeah, and he seems so full of himself," Mary repeated.

Marlene rolled her eyes and Alice wasn't even paying attention.

"Alice," Mary whispered across the desks. "What do you think?"

Alice continued to flirt with Frank who sat a few rows ahead of her.

"Alice," said Mary again.

Alice tuned toward the three girls and said, "Hm?"

"Seriously," started Marlene. "It's the first day back and you're already doing-that? You two snogged all last night. At least I hopped you only snogged."

Alice blushed. "Shut up. And were you talking about Javala?"

The girls nodded.

"I think he seems alright," answered Alice.

"Exactly," Lily nodded.

Mary leaned back in her chair. "I don't know. He seems a bit conceited if you asked me."

"Well, no one did ask you," Marlene told her.

Mary was about to respond when the Professor started speaking.

* * *

Lily had a free period after lunch.

Sweet.

Usually with spare time, she'd spend it doing homework or studying. Since it was the first day, she didn't really have anything to do. She traveled to the common room and found it occupied by a few students who had a free period as well. Fortunately, it consisted of Remus Lupin. Unfortunately, it consisted of James Potter.

"Oi, Evans!" James yelled from his spot on the red sofa.

Lily kept walking toward the stairs but James got up and blocked her path.

She tried to move past him but he didn't let her.

"No," he said. "You're going to hang with Remus and I."

Lily held up her bag and said, "Can I at least go put this up in my room?"

James grabbed it. "I will."

"You can't get up the stairs," Lily explained.

James smirked and ran up the steps. A few seconds later, he came back with empty hands.

"How'd you manage to do that?"

James ran a hand through his dark hair and whispered, "Secret."

Lily loosened the tie around her neck and followed James to where he was sitting with Remus. They took up most of the couch so she settled for the armchair near the unlit fire. They had pulled up a table where a game of Wizard's Chess was.

"Why do you want me over here?" Lily asked, looking at the board. "Clearly you two were playing a game."

"Nah, we just finished," said Remus, pulling up his legs and sitting crisscross.

"And we could use some more company," said James. "Sirius and Peter went down to the kitchens to get some food. "We were all alone in here. Well, there are a few others but they're irrelevant at the moment."

James fixed his glasses that started to fall down his nose. Lily noticed that Remus had a long scratch along his left arm. In the beginning, she asked questions. Now she knew not to ask them. Remus would stutter and look very anxious. She remembered Severus saying that he was a werewolf and scratched himself, but Lily would know if her friend was a werewolf. He would tell her.

"What are you staring at?" Remus asked suddenly.

Lily looked up and said, "Nothing. Um, have the patrolling schedules been posted up yet?"

"Yeah," said Remus, getting up to go fetch them from the notice board. He came back and handed the paper to Lily.

She scanned it and sighed of relief when saw that she wasn't paired with Severus. She also saw that Remus' name was missing for this week.

"Why aren't you patrolling at all this week?" she asked, handing the paper back to Remus.

"Detention," he said, "because of the fireworks."

Lily gaped. "_Why?_ Those were actually pretty brilliant. It wasn't one of those stupid pranks you lot do but a show."

"That's what I said!" James cut in. "But McGonagall was like, 'You destroyed the Great Hall and blah blah blah.' It was my idea, you know."

Lily rolled her eyes. "That's McGonagall. But congratulations on getting week detention the moment you get back to school. That's got to be a record."

"No," said James, leaning back against the sofa and crossing his arms. "We all got two weeks last year for replacing the noodles with worms and the raisins in the cookies with—"

"Yes, I remember," said Lily, shivering. "That was absolutely disgusting."

"It was creative," Remus said.

"But _that _was Sirius' idea," James added.

"Why am I not surprised?" Lily asked mostly to herself.

* * *

Sirius and Peter came back about an hour later with bags filled with who knows what. Lily asked, but they only smiled at ran up to the dormitories. Remus followed which left Lily and James alone.

"What?" Lily asked after a while. "You're not going to ask me out this year? I figured that you would have yesterday or even sometime in the past hour. Yet, you haven't mentioned the question."

"I told you, Red," James said, taking out his wand and creating puffs of colorful smoke. "I'm in love. I'm not going to randomly ask you out every few hours when the obvious answer is no. And when a bloke's in love, he's not going to be immature and _continuously _ask a girl out. That's just daft."

Lily started playing with the hem of her blouse.

"So…you're over me then?"

James froze. If he truthfully answered that question, she would know who he was in love with. Well, it's kind of obvious what the answer was. For her to be asking that question, she must really not know. James weighed his options. If he said yes, then he'd be lying and she'd never guess who. But if he said no, then she'd know right away.

He stared at her. She stared back. Her emerald eyes were glaring at his hazel ones and he couldn't look away. She seemed to be debating whether or not to look away as well. Eventually, she cast her eyes down onto her lap. James continued to stare. Her hair fell in waves down to her chest. It grew a lot during the summer. Her left leg was crossed over her right one and he made his eyes look up. She was still looking at her lap, playing with her shirt. Her fingers fumbled and a single, silver bracelet rode up and down her wrist, glistening from the sun that shone through the windows. A few freckles dotted across her nose and cheeks. Her face looked red. Was she blushing? No, she didn't like James very much. But she did talk to him and Remus for the past hour, right? But that was probably because of Remus.

She was so beautiful, so utterly beautiful that James sucked in a breath to keep from making some sort of abnormal sound. She looked backed up at him and repeated her question. James decided what to say.

It was quite simple, really.

He said, "Yes."

Lily blinked and sat up straight. "You are?"

"Why? Disappointed?"

She slumped her shoulders and tilted her head. "_No, _just—surprised I guess."

"Why?" James asked, wanting to know her answer.

Lily shrugged. "I don't know, I guess because last year, you wouldn't leave me alone. It was always, 'Red! Go out with me?' or 'Evans, Hogsmeade this weekend?' You were so confident that one day I'd say yes just to shut you up and eventually figure out I had feelings for you—which isn't true by the way. Now this year, you say you're over me just like that?"

"Yep," James lied right through his teeth.

"Okay."

"Okay?" James repeated. "Just 'okay?'"

Lily nodded. "What else do you want me to say?"

"I dunno, maybe like, 'Oh, finally! Now you're no longer an annoying prat!' or 'Aw, I'm terribly in love with you, James Potter, will you ask me to marry you?'"

Lily laughed and said "You're still an annoying prat and I don't want to marry you."

"But you're not denying that you're terribly in love with me," James smiled.

"I'm _not," _Lily said. "Believe me, I'm not and won't ever be."

James basically choked on air and started coughing.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked earnestly.

James coughed once more before blankly saying, "Fine."

Lily looked confused and she stood up.

"Well, class starts in a few minutes so I should be going, then. You sure you're okay?"

James nodded. "I'm peachy."

Lily started for her dormitory to get her bag. "Bye, Potter."

"Bye, Evans."

* * *

Alice was in a fantastic mood.

Not that almost the entire school wasn't as well, but Alice had more to be happy about.

She was back at the brilliant school called Hogwarts. She was happily together with Frank after not seeing him since June. Her home life was great. She couldn't complain. Not to mention that her first day of sixth year went splendidly.

But as she was patrolling the eerie corridors that evening (she was alone since her "would have been" partner was in detention), she was confused when a Ravenclaw was staring at her.

It was past curfew so he shouldn't have been out. He was standing at the end of the corridor, leaning against the wall with his muscular arms crossed. His eyes looked like a swirling pool of darkness as they bored into hers.

Alice didn't recognize him at all. This was strange. Hogwarts only held 1000 students or so. Everyone knew everyone in their year, the year above, and the year below. He looked her age, maybe older.

She scanned the darkly lit corridor and realized that no portraits lined the walls. She felt herself shiver. Was she scared? No, she should just approach this boy and ask him why he's out past curfew.

Alice started towards the boy at normal pace. She kept her head held high and when she was a few feet in front of him, she noticed how tall he was. Well, Alice was only 5'3, so everyone was taller than her.

"Excuse me," she said confidently. "It's eleven. That means you're out past curfew."

He looked down at her and said lazily, "So are you."

Alice pointed to the shining badge on her chest and said, "_I'm_ a prefect so I'm allowed to be out of bed. You, however, should either be in your common room or dormitory. If you don't listen, I'm going to have to write your name down and give you detention. If I really wanted to, I could talk to the Head Boy or Girl and tell them to dock points. Would you like that?"

He just stared at her with a blank expression and then started laughing. He laughed so hard that he had to bend over to catch his breath. When he finished, he stood up straight and pushed his dark blonde hair out of his eyes.

"Listen, I don't really care if you give me detention or dock points. All I'm doing is standing here. Now if you don't mind, I was thinking before you rudely interrupted, your majesty."

He bowed and then started to walk in the opposite direction Alice came from. She knew that the direction he was going wasn't to the Ravenclaw Tower.

"Hey!" she called, running to catch up with him. "Who are you? I've never seen you here and you look my age."

"If you must know," he dragged out "know" as he replied. "I've been homeschooled the past six years. I'm a seventh year, for your information."

Alice couldn't keep up with his long strides. He seemed to notice and slowed down.

"But how did you get sorted into Ravenclaw?" Alice asked with curiosity. "You weren't at the Sorting."

"No," he answered. "I was sorted in Dumbledore's office last night. He thought it'd be weird if a seventh year was sorted with a bunch of eleven year old kids."

Alice imagined the thought and smiled. "Yeah, that'd be pretty embarrassing. Everyone would probably give you cruel nicknames and make fun of you for a few months. But they'd forget about it and then question who you are even thought they have had eight classes a week with you."

He looked at her and shook his head. "You're—detailed."

"Intellectual," she corrected, holding up her pointer finger. "And why were you homeschooled?"

He shrugged. "My mum went here. She was sort of a nerd back in the day and always got picked on. She worried that I'd be bullied too, and didn't want me to go through what she went through."

"That's sad," said Alice.

"It's idiotic," he replied. "But I was sick of homeschooling. My dad wasn't being paid enough to support my family so my mum had to go back to work. Tada, that puts me here."

Alice nodded like she understood. She didn't, though. She was a pureblood. That meant her family went back generations and generations. Her mum worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and her dad worked in the Auror Department. Her parents got paid well and she had a good life. All she could do was empathize.

"Long story short," Alice started. "I've been going here since I was eleven. My mum loved it here. My dad did as well."

They turned and found themselves in another corridor. Alice looked around and suddenly felt nervous. She didn't recognize this part of the castle at all.

"Where are we?" Alice asked, searching the hallway.

"I don't know," the seventh year replied. "You're the one who'd been here since you were eleven and happen to be a _prefect._"

She stopped walking and looked at him. "I'm not joking. I seriously have no idea where we are. It's late and dark and there are no portraits to help us and we're unlikely to come across anyone else and—"

"Ooo! Look who it is!"

The two students lifted their heads and found Peeves the Poltergeist flying in circles above them.

"What's—who's that?" the Ravenclaw asked.

"Peeves," Alice moaned. "We better get out of here."

"Oh, you don't like me then, Alice Prewett?"

"Alice?" the boy questioned.

"Yes, that's my name," said Alice, keeping her eyes on Peeves.

"Hmm," he said. "Pretty. Dumbledore did warn me of Peeves, though."

Alice didn't respond. Peeves was circling above them with his legs crossed and a big grin on his face. "Who's this newbie?"

Alice looked back at the boy. "I never got your name."

"It's Chris," he answered.

"Christy! Christy! Why are you with the dear Alice Prewett this evening? You know she has a boyfriend? Oh, Alice! It would be awful if word got out to Frank that you were caught doing certain things with the newbie! I wonder who would tell him first!"

He started to cackle and fly in big figure eights.

"Peeves!" Alice yelled. "Don't make me tell the Bloody Baron that you destroyed a perfect relationship! You know how he is about those when he didn't have a proper one himself!"

Peeves stopped circling.

"Let's make a deal, Missy," he sneered. "You don't tell the Baron and I won't tell Longbottom that you and Christy were snogging, only flirting."

Alice glared at the transparent man. "How about you don't tell Frank anything, because we were doing _nothing, _and I won't tell the Baron, alright?"

Peeves knew he lost this battle. He stuck his tongue out at her and flew away, cursing down the hall.

Alice turned to Chris. "I'm sorry. Peeves is a real pain in the arse. You think I'd be used to him by now, but you can never get used to Peeves."

Christ looked at her skeptically. "You have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah. We've been together since third year."

Chris nodded. "Well, I guess we should try to find our way back to our common rooms, yeah?"

Alice nodded. "I'll go with you until you reach Ravenclaw Tower so I don't have to give you a detention slip. And by the way, what's your last name?"

"Awkward way of asking but Johnson. Yeah, crappy name. Dad's a Muggle so it's really common."

Alice didn't think it was common at all. "Johnson. That's a _really _strange surname. It's like my best friend's last name, Evans."

Chris stopped walking and said, "Evans? What's her first name?"

"It could be a male for all you know," Alice muttered.

"Seriously, what's her name?"

"Lily. Why?"

Chris smiled. "I know her! She's my neighbor. She goes to a boarding school during the fall through beginning of summer so she's never home but—okay, duh. That makes sense."

That was quite simple, really.

"Small world," Alice murmured.

* * *

**A/N: Please review because reviews are like soft, chocolate chip cookies dipped in milk.**

**I already know my plan for Chris but I'm starting to like him so that ruins everything :( Merlin, just review, okay? Okay.**


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